The last activity Adeline Tay (@adelimey) engaged in as a “healthy human being” was having lunch with her parents at a local hawker centre. It was 2016. She had just gotten off a doctor’s appointment with a medical referral in hand, oblivious about what was to come.

“That night, I opened that letter and saw the word ‘alopecia’. When I Googled about what alopecia was, it changed my life. I realised I had an autoimmune disease,” Adeline recounts.

An autoimmune disease is a condition in which an individual’s immune system attacks other tissues in the body. Triggers for such diseases, though generally difficult to pinpoint, run the gamut from medication to viral or bacterial infections. The letter, she says, had contained the prognosis and Adeline was referred to a specialist for a consult.

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Gen Grit documents the grit younger generation of Singaporeans possess. Passionate, driven and have a heart to call, many of these youths are taking it on their own to empower communities, all while embodying the co-operative values of self-help and mutual help. Here, we profile Adeline Tay, a creative strategist and content creator at UNFOLD Asia.